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Industry shines at Australian HR Awards

The 2012 Australian HR Awards celebrates the stars of the industry.

Video transcript below:

Donna Sawyer: The stars of the HR industry shone bright at the Australian HR awards with more than 700 professionals coming together to honour the best in their industry. Held at the Western Sydney, the black tie event praised the inspirational work of HR teams across the nation, awarding excellence in human resources and business development.

A Who’s who of the HR industry turned out for the night, the awards hosted by one of Australia’s favourite television presenters Shelly Craft. This year’s Australian HR Director of the Year is Rose Clements of Microsoft. To Discover was proud to present the award to Rose who says she is overwhelmed by the honour.

Rose Clements, Microsoft

Rose Clements: It’s just sinking in actually. I really looked at the calibre of people that were up for the award and I never imagined that it was going to be me. So completely overwhelmed, that’s incredible.

Donna Sawyer: And proving the future is bring for up and coming HR professionals, the Australian HR rising star of the Year went to Jessie Hommelhof of BHP Billiton Manganese.

Jessie Hommelhof, BHP Billiton Manganese

Jessie Hommelhof: I think it’s been a very big year for our company in particular and I think probably you know what sets us aside is you know just having such an amazing team that gel so well together, we are all very aligned in the direction in which we are heading and bounce ideas off off each other and just work towards the common goal.

Donna Sawyer: Ron Petite of Hatch Associates took out the hotly contested title of HR Manager of the Year. He was delighted to win the award and says business partnering has been the key to his team’s success.

Ron Pettit, Hatch Associates

Ron Pettit: Getting the HR team out working more really closely with the leaders of the business, we call it business partnering, but you know that’s been a huge success. It’s meant that they only, they get to know more about the business, get to know the individuals running the business and what their key issues are and they are able to take to them solutions and information. So that’s been a really big success.

Donna Sawyer: It was a night to remember for Gareth Bennett of R & R Consulting. He won the lifetime achievement award and says he has seen HR come a long way.

Gareth Bennett, R&R Consulting

Gareth Bennett: I think it’s good that HR people are recognised and that the contribution they make to businesses is now being truly appreciated. A few years ago that wasn’t necessarily the case and they had to prove themselves every day. Now people are very firmly at the centre of the business agenda, that’s the way it should be.

Donna Sawyer: There were celebrations all round for the People of Heritage Bank which won Australian HR team of the year. Bob Hogarth, General Manager of Human Resources says he has been privileged to work for an organisation that truly values its staff.

Bob Hogarth, Heritage Bank

Bob Hogarth: We think that, we work for a company that is really people first focused and we are able to do really exciting and innovative things and the team works hard, they work well together and they are a very talented bunch.

Donna Sawyer: Chris Whitehead of Credit Union Australia is the national HR champion. He says his HR team is at the heart of the company’s growth.

Chris Whitehead, Credit Union Australia

Chris Whitehead: [ ____ ] my left hand’s aboard you know if, as a financial institution if the numbers were important then find out from the right hand then actually the difference between two companies you think about is the people and the culture and they just do a fantastic job of really supporting me and helping me in that regard.

Donna Sawyer: The night ended on a high note as the HR industry let it’s hair down and saved their best moves for the dance floor. A joyful celebration for the most prestigious event on the calendar. This is Donna Sawyer reporting from the 2012 Australian HR awards.